Can a 10 day old bunny coexist with a newborn litter?

[Happy Camper]

I have a 10 day old bunny that survived his unexperienced/crazy mom and although is still with her I worry about his well being. I have a great mom that will kindle tonight.

Can I let her adopt him? She has adopted before, but only bunnies 2 or 3 days younger or older than her's. The good mom (Menta) is large and will only kindle 4-6 because was only bred once.

I worry he might be too strong and will harm the newborn kits or that he will not allow them to feed properly... but also I worry he will die like the rest of his siblings...

I am also considering adding him to this new litter when this new litter is a week old or so. What do you guys think? :?:

 

[ladysown]

yes it can. be alert for any strugglers in the newborn litter though.

 

[Demamma]

I placed a runt with a litter that was about 5 days younger before and it thrived as did the adopted mom's litter. Just keep a eye on things.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

The good mom (Menta) is large and will only kindle 4-6 because was only bred once.

Don't be too sure about that. Even with only one cover, there are more than enough sperm to fertilize all of the eggs that were released, and I haven't found any studies correlating multiple covers to the release of additional eggs.

You could also pull the nest and bring him to his mom twice daily for feedings. He only has a couple weeks before he can be weaned from milk in any case.

Are you planning on breeding his "crazy mom" again? If so, I would risk the one kit and allow her the opportunity to raise him to practice her mothering skills. I would also breed her back now so you don't have long to wait to see how she performs with litter #2.

 

[skysthelimit]

I understand your hesitance.
I put the litter back in with Isis, even after she trampled two kits so bad I had to cull them. I don't leave the box in with her, but now I don't have to force her to feed them. The kits are opening their eyes, and I haven't decided what to do, usually this is the time I leave the box with the doe.
I did rebreed her yesterday, to give her another chance. Hopefully she will come around, or she won't get a third. Isis was bred once last time, and gave me 10 kits.

 

[Happy Camper]

Oh, you were soooo right! Menta (ggod mommy) kindled 10. They are gorgeous and she takes great care of them...

I decided to leave the survivor with Crazy mommy. I am looking at the way I did things and I am thinking she did not perform that well in part because of the nest she had. I think she was not comfortable and was in a cage whith lots of close transit. It was also a nest without the appropriate depht and after a couple days I had to keep putting babies back inside. Besides she was not feeding them well... I finally got her the appropriate nest but it was too late.

Anyhow, I'll follow your advice and rebreed her soon. I was not going to, but I will give her another chance at this under more appropriate conditions.


Thanks so mucho for your great advice.

The good mom (Menta) is large and will only kindle 4-6 because was only bred once.

Don't be too sure about that. Even with only one cover, there are more than enough sperm to fertilize all of the eggs that were released, and I haven't found any studies correlating multiple covers to the release of additional eggs.

You could also pull the nest and bring him to his mom twice daily for feedings. He only has a couple weeks before he can be weaned from milk in any case.

Are you planning on breeding his "crazy mom" again? If so, I would risk the one kit and allow her the opportunity to raise him to practice her mothering skills. I would also breed her back now so you don't have long to wait to see how she performs with litter #2.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Oh, you were soooo right! Menta (ggod mommy) kindled 10.

Lol! Told ya so! :mrgreen:

Wow, ten is a big litter!

Glad to hear they are doing so well!

Anyhow, I'll follow your advice and rebreed her soon. I was not going to, but I will give her another chance at this under more appropriate conditions.

Good evaluation of the possible reasons for her failure. She definitely deserves another chance. I hope she does better next time! :clover: